ALS posts $24.8m profit fall

LABORATORY testing provider ALS has reported fullyear net profit fell $24.8 million to $127.8 million after writedowns of its Latin American life sciences and industrial operations.

The Brisbane-based company says Latin American life sciences had a non-cash impairment of $50 million due to increasing risk from socioeconomic issues, COVID-19 and weakening currencies.

The industrial division had a $40 million impairment due to the virus impact and the recent downturn in the oil and gas sector.

ALS (Australian Laboratory Services) provides testing, inspection and certification of drugs, oil and fuel, food, pharmaceuticals and more.

Despite the writedowns, ALS increased revenue substantially in its life sciences and industrial fields across the world.

Industrial revenue grew 17.6 per cent to $250 million, while life sciences revenue grew 13 per cent to $939 million.

The other revenue source, commodities, grew 3.5 per cent to $642 million.

While statutory net profit after tax was down, management was keen to highlight underlying net profit after tax of $188.8 million.